Bellis gets a trim, Disney Arabians, and my to-go container

After 2 months Bellis was in great need of a hoof trim, so yesterday she got one.
I wanted to see a professional do it before I try, and now that I've seen it, I'm not sure I want to do it. (This is a before shot.)

She's a donkey. When she has had enough of being cooperative, she just stops. And she used all her weight and strength against those two guys and they used all their strength to finish the job. The fronts weren't too bad, but the rear hooves she really objected to.

I've been cleaning her feet regularly and she's fine, but that isn't uncomfortable to her I guess. I'm gonna start rasping her feet just to see if I can do it myself. If not, I really don't mind paying someone. It's like our cat. She's fine unless you need her to do something she doesn't want to do, and then she just turns into a wild animal. Basically Baasha is the only good pet we have here, he'll put up with anything.

See where Baasha is in this photo? He was acting silly - he didn't want anything to do with hoof trimming I guess, and I had a halter on him which perhaps made him think he was next. He's usually so agreeable it was odd but he would hang out 10 meters away, within sight of course, and every 5 minutes or so he'd walk over urgently nickering a whiney, high-pitched complaint to Bellis. It was halfway adorable, halfway annoying.

I was really amazed at how donkeys' feet are different from horses'. First, the soles are so thick you can take a knife to them, where with Baasha I leave the sole alone. But the most astounding part for me was how thick the walls are. They are 2-4 times thicker than a horse's wall. My goodness, look at these photos and you'll see what I mean. The dark area is ALL wall!

I think with walls like this Bellis should earn her keep hauling groceries up the hill for us.

The farrier said Bellis has great feet and legs. Now if I could only find a horse with these qualities.

Here're Baasha's hooves - it's been 10 days since his trim.

I was really annoyed when I found out I had to pay 25 Euros travelling fee. This was not supposed to be part of the deal - he usually does several horses in our area and doesn't charge for the drive. That is a lot of money for driving 20 kilometers. I am not so annoyed by the 8 Euros I had to pay for Baasha's trimmer's travelling fee anymore.(OK I still am - she's really closeby!)

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The top annoyance overall today is the fact that I cannot go see that gelding again. Why?

Because it's raining.

No kidding. And she's a 100 mile endurance rider. And she doesn't ride in the rain? Or are they afraid the rain might make me dislike the horse? Come on. When I have the chance I might just tell her, "I've never met an endurance rider who won't ride in rain." And we live in the rainiest part of Germany so how are you gonna get your horses trained if you don't wanna get wet?

Perhaps it's something else and they're using the rain as an excuse.

I found a photo of him resting the other hind leg and it doesn't look so bad here.

I really don't like that some of the Gut Alemich horses have weird divots above thier eyes that make them look like they have eyebrows like that Disney horse Spirit the wild mustang. I know I'm shopping by legs and not faces, but did anyone notice this?

Eyebrows on horses are for emotional effect, I suppose. (It annoyed me as I watched the movie because most horses do not have eyebrows!)

Amja's sister Kiara has it too, I just went back through my photos and realized. The old stallions there also have it. I wonder what those divots are about? He looks perpetually concerned.

*sigh* Waiting..waiting..

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Update: My man called the owner again this afternoon and they said "It's still raining." I was so annoyed I said, "Next time ask him if the HORSE has a problem with the rain, because I cannot buy a horse who has rain issues!" 

But this Thursday is another holiday (another!?) so we're gonna try for Thursday. If it works out, my husband would come along too, which would be so nice.

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And in case you don't believe me about doggie bags in Germany, here is my most recent doggie bag from my favorite Thai restaurant. A proper to-go box must be an American thing, at least, they are not commonly used here. Probably because normally the portions are exactly what one can actually eat right then, hehe. This is what they gave me: my rice/curry in a plastic sack closed with a rubber band, inside a recycled bag from a popular bookstore. Man was I loving that for breakfast the next day!!